Data man out of his depth.
A quantifiable effect of the (still ongoing) Russian disinformation campaign is impossible to know. It's too complex a problem. We could barely quantify the effects a single vector ( like Twitter), let alone the hundreds through which this info traveled.
Just because we can't quantify it, doesn't mean it didn't have a big effect, however. There's many things we can't quantify that still have tremendous meaning and impact. The fetishizing of the quantifiable as the only truth knowable is as dangerous a problem as anything today.
"Data" does not reveal truths. It is evidence of a kind, and depending on how that data was collected, it could be bad evidence. To reflexively trust "data" is to abrogate a responsibility to think critically. Drives me nuts.
Recall how Facebook claimed to have data that suggested publications should "pivot-to-video" which many swallowed whole. Turned out it was shit data. Literally ruined lives of journalists laid off because of this nonsensical "pivot." insidehighered.com/blogs/just-vis…
